JON JONES has revealed his incredible lifting records during his bulk to heavyweight.
The former long-reigning light-heavyweight champion makes his long-awaited heavyweight debut this weekend in the main event of UFC 285.
Jon Jones returns to the octagon this weekend at UFC 285GETTY
GETTYJones has used his three-year hiatus to bulk up to heavyweight[/caption]
INSTAGRAM@JONNYBONESJones recorded some impressive lifts during his long and arduous transformation[/caption]
INSTAGRAM@JONNYBONESJones bulked up to a whopping 267lbs[/caption]
Jones, 35, has used his THREE-YEAR hiatus to bulk up his frame to mix it with the UFC’s big boys.
And they were the result of him lifting extremely heavy on the Big Three lifts – bench press, deadlift and squats – with strength coach and 2010 Mr Olympia Strongest Bodybuilder Stan Efferding.
He revealed to SunSport at the UFC 285 media day: “I ended up off training camp bench pressing 315 (143kg) for five [reps].
“Deadlifts was about 640lbs and my squat was about 500lbs, maybe 520lbs, somewhere around there.
“Towards the end, I wasn’t going for big numbers.
“I was just going for explosiveness and muscular endurance. But I’ve got pretty strong over the last three years.”
Jones’ incredible body transformation was borne out of a whopping 4,500-calorie daily diet.
And it helped him reach a weight of 267lbs (121kg).
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He said: “A few months ago, I got up to 267.
“But I felt a little more bloated and I didn’t like my endurance at that weight.
“I plan on competing right around, anywhere between, 245 and 250lbs.”
Team Jones are adamant his new muscle will carry over in his heavyweight bow.
Efferding told SunSport: “He’ll be stronger at that weight than what he was two years ago when we started with him.
“Significantly stronger.
“What we said from the get-go was that Jon could get as heavy as he wanted as long as his performance wasn’t impaired.
Instagram @jonnybonesJon Jones plans to weigh between 245 and 250lbs on fight night[/caption]
“We saw that with Vasily Alexeev at the Olympics.
“The coaches would say, ‘Look, as long as you’re getting stronger, we don’t care how heavy you get.’
“And the way we measured that, initially, was with his broad jump.
“And if his broad jump was continuing to increase, then the weight didn’t matter.
“The last thing we wanted to do was put some weight on him that caused him to be slower or him to perform worse.
“Those are the things we measured.
“And those are the metrics we used to make sure that the body weight going on him was good weight that was going to be productive in the octagon.”